this morning on "early today," zeroing in. allied forces turn the up the heat on moammar gadhafi. dead zone, dramatic photos provide the first glimpse inside japan's nuclear plant. and severe weather and wintry storms tear through and severe weather and wintry storms tear through portions of the nation. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with no letups. for five straight days now,

western planes have been fiercely pounding libya. in tripoli, anti-aircraft fire lit up the sky once again. the air strikes appear to have thwarted gadhafi's efforts to overtake his opponents for now. although there has been retaliation. in misrata, there have been reports of sniper attacks by pro gadhafi supporters. off the the coast of libya, there were ships enforcing the u.s. arms embargo. today, the president meets with his national security team to discuss strategy. for more on that, we go to nbc's tracie potts in washington. good morning. >> lynn, good morning. no doubt, the question will be today what is the end game here? the president has anonsed that we will not be sending ground troops into libya, yet we're sending more warships there as

we speak. the big question, who is going to take over within days as the president has promised? the french has said they only want a technical role. nato can't seem to agree who will take over. that remains a big question. it's a question they're asking about on capitol hill. house speaker john boehner sending a letter saying his administration is sending mixed messages about this mission. meantime, secretary of state hillary clinton has a message for moammar gadhafi saying the end game rests with him, that it's his decision when to step down and end all this. finally, what does the american public think? we have results this morning from a new reuters poll. 60% say they support the action in libya. 79% say they think we should be doing more to get moammar gadhafi out. >> thanks so much. tensions are mounting in the

mid-east once again with a fresh round of air strikes of hamas targets. yesterday, a blast ripped through a bus stop in jerusalem. one woman was killed, the first fatal attack in the city in several years. no one has claimed responsibility for the blast. we are getting the first look inside the crippled fukushima nuclear plant in japan where workers are desperately trying to keep more radiation from seeping into the atmosphere. new photographs show crews trying to stabilize the damaged reactor yesterday. today, it's reported three workers were exposed to radio activity and two of them were sent to the hospital for the treatment. meanwhile work workers are distributing bottles of water all across tokyo after warnings yesterday that the city's tap water had elevated radiation. and the japanese government

estimates that this month's earthquake and tsunami may cost up to $309 billion in damage, which would make it the world's most expensive natural disaster ever. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in pennsylvania, a severe storm system delivered a one-two punch of wild weather in several locations. look at that golf ball sized hail hummeled various areas while a tornado touched down in the western part of the state, tearing the roofs off several homes and businesses. officials say no serious injuries have been reported. in california, the best place to be was inside. spring showers packed quite a punch up north. hail mixed with heavy rainfall making the ground look as if it was blanketed with snow. sacramento residents fared better than those in neighboring areas where a tornado was spotted. to minnesota, wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour produced great surfing conditions on lake superior.

can you imagine? with temperatures in the 20s, two surfers were spotted taking full advantage of the first and maybe only day of the midwest surfing season. the waves reached 6 to 8 feet. look at him. looks like the experience was kind ooh a perfect ten there, wasn't it? what's the deal with this wlet? let's get a check ott your national and regional weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. is that the professional anchor way of tossing to the weather? what's the deal? it should be yours only. >> i want answers, though. >> yesterday was an amazing day. we had the snow, hail, severe weather. there's a lot of people in kentucky, ohio and west virginia that would agree with me. in tennessee, we had one report of a tornado. another tornado south of pittsburgh. that's the red triangles. in all, 285 reports of severe weather. that's either tornados, large hail or damaging winds. so there's a lot of cleanup to

do. now, the weather map is split today. we had the storm that brought us the severe weather yesterday. then on the west coast, we have the next storm moving in and that's the one that will move across the southern portion of the nation in the days ahead. we're dealing with our storm system here in the east. the severe weather is over with. now we have a little bit of snow. enough cold air is in place that we're getting a coating out there. temperatures are around freezing. a lot of the roads are going to be okay. you will see it on your car or the grassy surfaces as you go out this morning. new york city overnight, here is the white and you can see it out here on i-95. that's a look at your national forecast. now here is a look at the weather outside your window. washington, d.c. today, chilly. i think that's probably the biggest story of the day, the cool air that's moving in behind the storm system. it's going to be a very cold day. milwaukee with sunshine, a high of 30 degrees. that's rare for this time of year.

lynn, no big warm-up in sight, but there's no more snow at least in the forecast. >> a little bit of something. >> baby steps. >> bill, thanks. coming up, oil climbs, home sales tumble and the movie even the most hard core film fan will not be able to sit through. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. if. plus, hollywood loses a legend some are describing as the last true star. coming up, the heat motor by the pistons and is it time for the knicks to push the panic button? you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. federal officials are reviewing staffing at airports across the country after two passenger

planes landed at reagan national airport yesterday without clearance because the air traffic controller fell asleep. ray lahood has since ordered that two traffic controllers be on duty at the reagan international airport late at night. a soldier who pleaded guilty to the murders of three afghan prisoners has been sentenced to 24 years in prison. yesterday's sent yapsing came days after the german news magazine "der spiegel" showed warlock and other soldiers posing with the dead afghans. it may now be known the source of an oil slick. the crude is a close match to the oil that leaked from the houston based company avenues offshore platform, although that company denies it. actress lindsay lohan is opting to face trial and a

possible lengthy prison sentence in her felony grand theft case rather than accept a plea deal which would have put her behind bars for several months. and a private collector in paris may have been duped out of $4 million. the mexican government says a mayan sculpture bought this week is fake. the mayan government insists it is authentic. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,086 after gaining 67 points yesterday. the s&p inched up 3 points and the nasdaq edged up 14. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei fell 14 points but in hong kong, the hang seng rose 89. stocks moved higher wednesday, but today we'll see if they have enough strength to shake off a troubling turn turn in europe's debt saga. portugal's prime minister

resigned wednesday after parliament rejected its latest aur austerity measures. yesterday's stocks rebounded on news that gas consumption is actually up, despite higher prices at the pump. fueling optimism, the recent spike in oil prices may not stall the economic recovery. that news was especially comforting on a day when oil prices reached their highest level in 2 1/2 years, settliing just under $106 a barrel. meanwhile, shares of freeport mcmoren copper and gold jumped after the ceo of the company said they can't afford to make a big purchase. the federal reserve rejected america's plan to increase its dividend because it failed to pass the fed's stress tests. another drag on the day, sales of new homes plunged 17% in january to the lowest on record. more fallout from japan's disasters. toyota says a shortage of japanese made parts will likely

impact production at one or more of its north american plants. keep an eye on research in motion. the blackberrymaker reports earnings after the bell. here is one movie you probably won't be renting anytime soon. yesterday a morning film festival in helsinki was set to screen its longest film with a running time of 12 minutes and 40 hours. that means they will still be screening it this time next week. coming up, the magic cast a spell over the knicks, the grizzlies cast some shamrocks and some last minute for the ducks. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the storm system that brought wild weather to the ohio valley exiting the east coast today. now our focus goes to the west coast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, new york city sports fans and sports writers are not known for their patience. what little they do have may have run out with the knicks. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good thursday morning. it's hard to believe that a team could get worse with the addition of a superstar, but

that is exactly what happened with the new york knicks. they have carmelo anthony, but glaring problems in the middle. magic took advantage, finishing with 33 points and 11 boards. orlando won it, 111-99. that loss dropped the knicks below .500 for the first time since november. 2 heat almost lost to the struggling pistons. rodney's jam kept the game close. james with the throw down. the heat pulled away, 100-94. celts had a chance to climb back into first place in the east. but the glizlys weren't having it. marcus celts, one last shot and it was short. grizzlies held it, with 90-87. wilson chandler put the nuggets up two. spurs are the best team in the league, but not last night. no superstars in denver, yet

they keep on winning up, 115-112. hockey, red wings and knucks. daniel dean scored a pair of cold. running away with the west after a 2-1 victory. a great finish between the ducks and the stars. scrub in front of the net and the puck fell right into his last. he tied itth five seconds to go in the game. check out the 40-year-old

welcome back on this thursday. cold, chilly air is following in the foot steps of our severe weather we had yesterday. look at the highs today, only in the 20s in the northern plains. chicago, 36. the rain and snow will be with us early this morning in southern new england and then it will go gone by the this afternoon. then all that cold air rushes in

through new england. we're still nice in texas and many areas along the gulf coast. if you're watching us on whag tv haegerstown, maryland, see a portraits painted over 200 years ago at the washington county museum of fine arts. that's your "early today" event of the day. >> bill, thanks. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. few artists can live up to the billing larger than life. but elizabeth taylor was one of those few. she died yesterday at the age of 79 from congestive heart failure. nbc's stephanie stanton takes a look back at taylor's remarkable career. >> elizabeth taylor was the icon of a hollywood icon. taylor first rose to stardom when she was just a teenager in

"national velvet." she went on to star in doesz of hollywood film wes b including "cat on a hot tin roof" and cleopatra. she earned five academy acard nominations and won two oscars. she was the first woman to earn $1 million for a film. off screen, her life was just as dramatic. >> i would say that her life story had more incidents, more drama than the most of the films that she actually did. >> married eight times to seven different men, it was her romance to richard burton who she first married in 1964 and then again in 1975 that created a media frenzy. >> they were trailblazers for the paparazzi. there had never been anything like that. there had never been a romance that famous and public and scandalous. >> in 2009, she privately mourned the passing of one of her best friends, michael jackson. in her later years, it was her charity work for aids research

that she says kept her going. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. >> it really is the end of an era. great look back on her life. this comes to us from kxas nbc 5 in dallas, texas, where in nearby denton one teenager is pounding the pavement hoping to find work in the world of politics. 18-year-old zorro is running for a seat on the city council. when he's not studying, the college student is campaigning meeting the residents he wants to represent. an incumbent opponent is his biggest hurdle on election day. great example there for all the youth. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. blue diamond almonds!

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41 degrees right now at 4:28 as we take a live look at ronald reagan national airport. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome to news 4 today. it is sdth. nan major changes at reagan national airport